"The sixth edition of O'Reilly Media's annual Where 2.0 conference wrapped yesterday, possibly the most exciting and definitely the most widely attended edition to date. The premise was consistent with that of previous years: citizen map-making democratizes our world, location is pervasive, and we can be assured of the financial value of geographic data and location-aware advertising. But there was something else going on, too, something new, complex and big: the realization that we need to build services that let people manipulate their world, not just learn about it." —Di-Ann Eisnor, GigaOM

"Where 2.0 is a unique gathering that mixes together the usual geo-suspects with a potent mix of Silicon Valley strivers and curious IT folks. This year attendance is back up to just shy of 1000 and the venue is packed full. There is nothing like the psychology of a full room to get people buzzing." —Paul Ramsey, OpenGeo

"Three days of packed presentations by amazingly smart, passionate people. They are here to share their ideas with others and build upon their successes to make new applications and new ways of doing things. It is really interesting to see the supportive and sharing atmosphere working to drive the technology." —Stephanie Tamar Ayanian, Geospatial Revolution Project

"So this year's Where 2.0 in a sentence: location technology can help people have fun, and it can also just plain help people. Good news all around." —Paul Ramsey, OpenGeo

"Nokia…at the Where 2.0 Conference in San Jose, CA, the world's biggest event focused on exploring location based services." —Carlos Silva, The S60 blog

"Where 2.0, now in its fifth year, is the tech industry's biggest showcase for the latest geo-enabled hardware and software—an area that's hit a new level of saturation as location-based tech rapidly moves into our smartphones, our laptops and, consequently, into our experience on the web." —Michael Calore, Wired.com webmonkey

"Where 2.0 is THE event for location based services and with the evolution of Maps, the perfect place to talk about what's new and exciting." —JBC, Nokia Conversations

"Many thanks indeed for an excellent conference. I was dead-impressed with the welcoming congeniality of the staff, the quality of the presentations, and smooth running of it all. Thanks for making Yahoo! a part." —Tyler Bell, Yahoo! Inc.

"A hotspot of creative thinking and investigation into what's possible in terms of location-based services today, and what's just around the corner." —Mike Cooper, Nokia

"I spent Wednesday listening to presentations about how the evolution of location-based mobile services and the geo-coding of information on the Web were changing the way we experience the Internet. It was geeky, exciting stuff." —Chris O'Brien, Mercury News Columnist

"Back to the office after a great week at #where20 and #wherecamp—looking forward to following up with lots of the great folks we met." —Sarah Manley via Twitter

"Where 2.0 was the most interesting and provocative conference I have ever attended" —John Frank, Founder and CTO, MetaCarta, Inc.

"The Where 2.0 conference is probably one of the most important meetings of the year for developers of new Web 2.0 mapping technologies." —Frank Taylor, Google Earth Blog

"I can't remember a conference I have attended in the past few years where there was just so much to take-in. [The next] Where 2.0…will be a show not to miss." —Ed Parsons, edparsons.com

"Where 2.0 was a terrific event that showcased cutting-edge technology, geo-spatial tools and advanced thinking about place and participation. It's like a sneak preview of tomorrow's consumer and enterprise applications." —Greg Sterling, Sterling Market Intelligence

"Many companies are trying to position themselves as leaders in the geolocation field this week, which makes sense since the sure-to-be-fascinating Where 2.0 conference kicks off next week." —Rafe Needleman, CNET News.com

"[Where 2.0] presentations provided a stimulating combination of cartographic history, bleeding-edge technologies (many of them still under construction), and debate over how businesses can tap into the new excitement over consumer access to geo-referenced data on the Web." —Wade Roush

About Where Conference 2012

Now in its eighth year, Where Conference: The Art and Business of Location, is where the grassroots and leading-edge developers building location-aware technology intersect with the businesses and entrepreneurs seeking out location apps, platforms, and hardware to gain a competitive edge. In the O'Reilly conference tradition, Where Conference presents leading trends rather than chasing them.

Where is business: where people live, where they go, and where, when, and how they spend their money are now key factors in business success. From product development to distribution, marketing, and sales, location technologies help companies identify, understand, and serve their markets far more effectively than ever before. There's no better place to meet the people behind the mashups, the people behind the platforms, and the people looking ahead to where location awareness will take us. Join us at Where to debate and discuss what's viable now, and what's lurking just below the radar.

Experience Where Conference

Where Conference's greatest asset is its participants. Since 2005, Where has tapped into the creative spirit of all attendees, sparking provocative encounters and productive inspiration that continue long after the conference ends. Where's unique conference format brings the most innovative and interesting people and projects in this space to the stage, and keeps their presentations concise, snappy, and relevant. Where connects participants through:

High level plenary sessions that address current opportunities and future possibilities in the location space

A full day of workshops led by experts and innovators, charting the depths of cutting-edge location technologies

"The sixth edition of O'Reilly Media's annual Where 2.0 conference wrapped yesterday, possibly the most exciting and definitely the most widely attended edition to date. The premise was consistent with that of previous years: citizen map-making democratizes our world, location is pervasive, and we can be assured of the financial value of geographic data and location-aware advertising. But there was something else going on, too, something new, complex and big: the realization that we need to build services that let people manipulate their world, not just learn about it." —Di-Ann Eisnor, GigaOM

"Where 2.0 is a unique gathering that mixes together the usual geo-suspects with a potent mix of Silicon Valley strivers and curious IT folks. This year attendance is back up to just shy of 1000 and the venue is packed full. There is nothing like the psychology of a full room to get people buzzing." —Paul Ramsey, OpenGeo

"Three days of packed presentations by amazingly smart, passionate people. They are here to share their ideas with others and build upon their successes to make new applications and new ways of doing things. It is really interesting to see the supportive and sharing atmosphere working to drive the technology." —Stephanie Tamar Ayanian, Geospatial Revolution Project

"So this year's Where 2.0 in a sentence: location technology can help people have fun, and it can also just plain help people. Good news all around." —Paul Ramsey, OpenGeo

"Nokia…at the Where 2.0 Conference in San Jose, CA, the world's biggest event focused on exploring location based services." —Carlos Silva, The S60 blog

"Where 2.0, now in its fifth year, is the tech industry's biggest showcase for the latest geo-enabled hardware and software—an area that's hit a new level of saturation as location-based tech rapidly moves into our smartphones, our laptops and, consequently, into our experience on the web." —Michael Calore, Wired.com webmonkey

"Where 2.0 is THE event for location based services and with the evolution of Maps, the perfect place to talk about what's new and exciting." —JBC, Nokia Conversations

"Many thanks indeed for an excellent conference. I was dead-impressed with the welcoming congeniality of the staff, the quality of the presentations, and smooth running of it all. Thanks for making Yahoo! a part." —Tyler Bell, Yahoo! Inc.

"A hotspot of creative thinking and investigation into what's possible in terms of location-based services today, and what's just around the corner." —Mike Cooper, Nokia

"I spent Wednesday listening to presentations about how the evolution of location-based mobile services and the geo-coding of information on the Web were changing the way we experience the Internet. It was geeky, exciting stuff." —Chris O'Brien, Mercury News Columnist

"Back to the office after a great week at #where20 and #wherecamp—looking forward to following up with lots of the great folks we met." —Sarah Manley via Twitter

"Where 2.0 was the most interesting and provocative conference I have ever attended" —John Frank, Founder and CTO, MetaCarta, Inc.

"The Where 2.0 conference is probably one of the most important meetings of the year for developers of new Web 2.0 mapping technologies." —Frank Taylor, Google Earth Blog

"I can't remember a conference I have attended in the past few years where there was just so much to take-in. [The next] Where 2.0…will be a show not to miss." —Ed Parsons, edparsons.com

"Where 2.0 was a terrific event that showcased cutting-edge technology, geo-spatial tools and advanced thinking about place and participation. It's like a sneak preview of tomorrow's consumer and enterprise applications." —Greg Sterling, Sterling Market Intelligence

"Many companies are trying to position themselves as leaders in the geolocation field this week, which makes sense since the sure-to-be-fascinating Where 2.0 conference kicks off next week." —Rafe Needleman, CNET News.com

"[Where 2.0] presentations provided a stimulating combination of cartographic history, bleeding-edge technologies (many of them still under construction), and debate over how businesses can tap into the new excitement over consumer access to geo-referenced data on the Web." —Wade Roush

Program Chair

Brady ForrestBrady Forrest is chair for O'Reilly's Where 2.0 conference. Additionally, he co-chairs Web 2.0 Expo in San Francisco and NYC. Brady writes for O'Reilly Radar tracking changes in technology. He previously worked at Microsoft on Live Search (he came to Microsoft when it acquired MongoMusic). Brady lives in Seattle, where he builds cars for Burning Man and runs Ignite. You can track his web travels at Truffle Honey.

Program Committee

Laurel RumaLaurel Ruma is the Director of Talent for O'Reilly Media. Most recently she co-chaired Where 2.0, OSCON Java, and Gov 2.0 Expo. She joined the company in 2005 after working for five years at various IT analyst firms in the Boston area. Laurel is also the co-editor of Open Government, published by O'Reilly.

Tyler BellTyler Bell is a geotechnologist with broad interests in open source and place-based information systems. He is currently Director of Product at Factual, and previously led the Geo Technologies product team at Yahoo where he conceived and launched the Placemaker and GeoPlanet geo-enrichment platforms. A former archaeologist specializing in landscape analysis and the semantic integration of heterogeneous data, Tyler gained his doctorate at the University of Oxford before founding a spatial technology spin-out from the University in 2001. He writes about semantic- and geo-technologies for O'Reilly Radar at radar.oreilly.com/tylerb/.

Amber CaseAmber Case is a Cyborg Anthropologist and User Experience Designer from Portland, Oregon. She studies the interaction between humans and computers and how our relationship with information is changing the way cultures think, act, and understand their worlds. Her main focus is on mobile software, augmented reality and data visualization, as these reduce the amount of time and space it takes for people to connect with information. Case founded Geoloqi.com, a private location sharing application, out of a frustration with existing social protocols around text messaging and wayfinding.

Tom CoatesTom Coates is a technologist and writer, focused on the shape of the web to come and on developing new products that thrive in it. He's worked for many prominent companies including Time Out, the BBC, and Yahoo! where he was Head of Product for the Brickhouse innovation team. He's most known for the Fire Eagle location-sharing service, and for his work on social software, future media and the web of data. He writes (sporadically) at plasticbag.org.

Carolyn HodgeCarolyn is a veteran online marketer with fifteen years of experience in consumer education, business to business marketing, and tech communications. Currently, CMO at Locaid, the cross-carrier location aggregation platform serving mobile marketers, app developers and enterprise tracking. She led TRUSTe’s growing marketing team for seven years through its evolution from a non-profit privacy seal to build a ubiquitous and respected online brand that attracted series a funding from Accel Partners. She brings unique perspective on emerging online and mobile marketing and privacy practices. She is a graduate of George Washington University and holds an MBA from Babson College.

Sha HwangSha studied and worked in architecture before diving headfirst into data visualization at Stamen Design. At Stamen Sha worked on projects for clients like CNN, MTV, Adobe, and Flickr. Last year, Sha cofounded a startup called Movity focused on visualization and cities. Movity was recently acquired by the real estate company Trulia to bring their work to a national audience. Sha is endlessly fascinated by maps, data, design, and cities.

Asif KhanAsif, is a veteran tech start-up, business-development and marketing entrepreneur with more than 15 years experience. He is currently focused on working as a consultant, speaker and venture capitalist to the location-based marketing services community. In support of this, Asif recently formed the Location Based Marketing Association—an international group dedicated to research and education in the space.

Siobhann QuinnProduct Manager at foursquare; former Product Manager of Blogger at Google.

Mike Schneider@SchneiderMike is SVP, Director Digital Incubator for Allen & Gerritsen, ranked by Advertising Age in the Top 50 Independent agencies in the US. The Digital Incubator is a lab responsible for building products and engaging experiences rooted in ROI while helping define "what's next" for the agency and the industry. Mike has crafted paid, owned and earned media strategies, built award-winning communities, designed and implemented B2B and consumer segmentation, content management and customer relationship management solutions. He blogs for several sites including a technology and social media blog called Digital Before Digital. He was recognized in 2010 as one of Boston Business Journal's 40 Under 40. He is the co-author of Location Based Marketing for Dummies.

Tish ShuteTish Shute is an entrepreneur, digital strategist, writer, and founder of Ugotrade—a leading blog focused on augmented reality, and the future of mobile social communications. Tish is the co-chair/co-founder of Augmented Reality Event—a landmark in an emerging industry. Tish is passionate about the role of mobile technology in a new era of collective engagement, consumer to consumer brokerages, collaborative consumption and tapping into our collective energies in totally new ways. Tish's career in new media and technology began with entrepreneurship when she co-founded a company specializing in real time software for motion control, robotics, and special effects for film, television, theme parks and aerospace. She continues her interest in innovation and paradigm shifts as an entrepreneur, developer and writer focused on the uncharted territory of our augmented mobile social futures. Tish has a Ph.D (all but dissertation) in Anthropology, from the Program in Culture and Media, New York University where she pursued her interest in the uptake of new technology from a more academic POV.

Andrew TurnerAndrew Turner is the CTO at GeoIQ, the company behind GeoCommons, a geospatial visualization and analytics platform. He co-founded Mapufacture, a personalized geospatial search and aggregation system that was acquired by FortiusOne in August 2008 in order to combine real-time feeds with large GIS datasets. Andrew is focused on collaboration and user-generated content around location and time. He is actively involved in open-data projects such as OpenStreetMap and VoteReport, as well as open-source projects like Mapstraction and GeoPress. He regularly speaks at conferences on the benefits of open-source software and geospatial standards to communities and organizations. Andrew wrote the O'Reilly shortcut "Introduction to Neogeography" and "Trends in Where2.0" business report in Spring 2008. He is also published in MacTech and Make magazine on his home-automation hacking. Previously, Andrew was an aerospace engineer building airships, spacecraft and real-time immersive simulators. He received his B.S in Aerospace Engineering and Computer Science from the University of Virginia and his Masters from Virginia Tech. Andrew Turner is the co-author of Beautiful Mapping.